One of the games on this week’s NFL schedule is expected to be one of the most lopsided games in league history, matching the undefeated and seemingly unstoppable Denver Broncos, led by Peyton Manning, and the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars, who are winless and going nowhere. The point spread on the game has reached as high as 28 points. The Throwback Thursday game I’m highlighting this week was also played between these two franchises, and wound up being featured by NFL Films as one of the top ten in their “Greatest Games” series. They dubbed it the “Ambush at Mile High”, and going into the game the expected result was pretty much what the experts are counting on this week – a one-sided Bronco victory. The year was 1996 and the Broncos were the AFC’s top seed going into the playoffs, and behind star quarterback John Elway, were expected to breeze through the competition into the Super Bowl. When the first team they would face turned out to be the Jaguars, that path looked to be extremely easy. The Jaguars were a second year expansion team that finished the year with a 9-7 win/loss record, barely squeaking into the playoffs as a wild card team. They pulled what appeared to be a major surprise in the wild card round the previous week when they overcame an early 14-0 deficit to upset the Buffalo Bills 30-27. It wasn’t clear at the time, but it turned out the Bills were in decline at that point. In fact, the game turned out to be Jim Kelly’s final appearance, as he left the field with a head injury and wound up retiring in the off-season. Against the 13-3 Broncos, the Jaguars, under coach Tom Coughlin, were supposed to be an easy mark, especially at Mile High Stadium, where the team had a major home field advantage. The game followed the same pattern as the Jags’ wild card win the previous week, with Denver jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter. However, just as in the Buffalo game, Jacksonville stormed back behind the pinpoint passing of Mark Brunell, who played the game of his life, and the hard running of Natrone Means, who ground out 140 rushing yards. Jacksonville hung on for the win, again by a 30-27 score, but unfortunately they were eliminated the next week in the AFC Championship game by coach Bill Parcells’ New England Patriots. The upset may have lit a fire under Elway and the Broncos, however, as they went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls following the 1997 and ’98 seasons.
Natrone Means (photo courtesy of Bleacherreport.com)